


Powdered Cheeks

by HiddenEye



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Deaged!Hunk, Fluff, Gen, Gore, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-09-06 16:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8761399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenEye/pseuds/HiddenEye
Summary: “Lance,” Pidge started, wary and skeptical, as if she wasn’t sure she was hearing things right. “What is that?”He cleared his throat. “Hunk.”
  “He's alive? What happened to him? And why does he sound like that?”
The sobs were becoming louder now, and Lance felt his chest clench at the sight of Hunk using his pudgy hands to rub them across his nose and eyes, smearing fluid all over his face that he looked like an absolute mess.“He,” he paused, unsure how to word this properly. “changed.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't sure if I should put up that warning, but just to make sure I guess. And I may have...developed a soft spot at the thought of very small, very young Hunk waddling between people's legs, so deaged!Hunk it is! Enjoy! 
> 
> (I mean I've always love Hunk but this is just -eye emoji- y'know?)
> 
> Any mistakes are mine to make. 
> 
> Kudos, bookmarks, and comments are highly appreciated! :)

In a way, the day was relatively normal like any other day the moment they settled with the idea of piloting giant, alien cat robots in space.

Or rather, _lions_ , to be specific.

And he, for once in his life, didn't know what to do.

Though, having a peaceful day was a luxury for them at this point and he appreciated not throwing himself into the thick of danger when the moment came, Lance knew the quietness that wafted around him made him _think_ of things he didn't want to face. Sometimes, they would be harmless, easily pushed aside with a simple, distracting task he would occupy himself with, say, working on Blue with Hunk or Pidge's help, or even poke his head around the castle to explore the numerous rooms it had.

Others, however?

Not so much.

While the idea of pushing Keith's buttons seemed appealing to him, it wasn't enough to quench this irritating itch that crawled restlessly under his skin. The walks don't work as well as it would due to the eerily quiet hallways, and he would be too distracted with these _things_ -unwelcoming thoughts, distracting dreams- inside his head that his half-hearted desire to work on his lion was tossed right out of the window.

He didn't like it. Not only it didn't give him an opportunity to enjoy the quiet moments the way the others were filling their time with whatever it was they liked to do, but it was also making him jumpy, and napping didn't help once he managed to catch up with some well-deserved rest.

To say the least, he was almost glad the familiar red lights flashed inside his room, accompanied by the loud blare of alarm that it drowned out the inaudible sigh of relief he didn't manage to hold in.

He slid the forgotten tablet from his lap and began to dress, before quickly making his way towards the main room with his helmet perched on his hip, plastering a lopsided grin the moment the doors slid open.

“Ladies.” His teammates were all there, wearing their paladin armour that he realised faintly he was the last one to arrive. He stood beside Hunk, nudging his arm. “What's the trouble?”

“Aliens.” Came a dry reply, and Lance shot up his eyebrows as Pidge stood on his side, never breaking her gaze from the display on the screen.

“ _Hah_ , Pidge. That's funny.”

“You asked.”

“The trouble is,” Allura pointedly began, mildly unimpressed by their bickering from where she stood in the middle of the room, hands hovering overthe controls. “A distress beacon was breached on a nearby planet, promptly alerting us that we'll be going to see what's happening.”

Shiro’s eyebrows knitted in concern, reading the information the hologram provided as she zoomed onto the image of the light blue planet. “It doesn't look as if Galra had anything to do with it.”

“That's what we noticed too,” Coran joined in, stepping beside the princess as coordinates and heat waves began to appear. “We've made some indepth research, and the fact that this particular planet isn't a Galra pit stop is what making it more worrying, since we'll be able to pick everything that's related to them after some updates Hunk and Pidge managed to make on the castle. It could be triggered by one of the rebel forces, but we would have been notified by them too.”

“It could be a trap,” Keith supplied slowly, eyes flickering over the readings. “Like the last planet we landed. We almost lost Hunk then when they ambushed us.”

Said man winced, rubbing his nape from the touch of a ghostly incident. “Yeah, those guys sure knew how to use their knives.”

Lance remembered his own angry scream when he fought off those lizard-like creatures from decapitating his friend, and leaned into Hunk slightly for support both of them need. Hunk glanced at him with a knowing, but thankful curve of his lips. “But, we can't just abandon them if they need our help,” Lance pointed out. “What if they're really in trouble?”

“Hunk and I made sure if there's anything Galra related happening on any planets, including rebels who are working for them, the castle would be able to tell us. But, seeing that there's nothing about them, well,” she shrugged. “It could either be some new group of people causing havoc, or someone pushed the button accidentally.”

“What, like a cult?” Hunk asked, warily watching the planet.

“Now, there's a thought,” Lance commented. “Alien cults knocking on your door and telling you to join their circle of crazy people.” Bringing his hands near his face, he wiggled his fingers. “‘Hoo-haa, we're here to take your soul’.”

Pidge scoffed. “You got a better theory?”

“‘Hoo-haa’?” Keith deadpanned.

“Even if they're trying to ambush us again, we still have to go down there. Survey the place and check out if the civilians really need our help,” Shiro swept his gaze over them, expression grim. “Just be careful, and alert the rest of us if there's anything wrong.”

“Good.” Allura swept her hands to herself, and everything flickered off. “Coran and I will be handling the castle from here, we'll warn you if anything else happens that needs to be taken care off.”

As they all walked out of the door, Lance found himself walking beside Hunk. Giving him a smile, Lance nudged his side again to get his attention. “You alright there, big guy?”

Hunk shrugged. “I've had it worse, like puking five times in a row the first time we were in Blue.”

Lance chuckled, swinging an arm around his shoulders and pulled him nearer. “Yeah, well, just don't try puking in Yellow this time, huh?”

“You're seriously underestimating me _now,_ dude?” Hunk snorted, digging his thumb into Lance's side that he yelped, untangling himself from Hunk that the Yellow Paladin grinned. “That's, like, _very_ rude, you know? Could’ve hurt my feelings or something, and then, I could have left.”

Rubbing the spot, Lance rolled his eyes. “What are we gonna do without our leg of Voltron if you did?”

“Hop on one foot to battle.”

“I hope not,” Shiro called out from the front as Lance let out a burst of laughter, and he noticed the way Shiro tried not to smile too widely as he glanced back. “We'll probably be a laughing stock.”

“And no one's going to take us seriously ever again,” Keith added from beside him, a small smirk visible.

“Voltron will be doomed with eternal embarrassment,” Pidge shook her head, slipping on her helmet as the others followed suit. “all because Lance made fun of Hunk's puking abilities.”

“ _Gross._ ”

 

* * *

 

The moment they've entered the planet’s atmosphere, Lance was surprised to see that a majority of the surface was mostly covered by a mass of blue liquid. Yearning and nostalgia hit him square in the chest at the remarkable resemblance it had to the waves on earth, down to the white sands of the beach that caused him to tighten his grip on the levers.

 _“Wow_. _”_ Hunk murmured in his ear.

It was obvious Hunk was feeling the same thing he was.

 _“The place you would find is a city mostly hidden underground,”_ Allura began through the video feed, half of her attention pulled towards the hologram in front of her, fingers rapid as she slid them across the surface. _“From what the beacon told us, it was triggered somewhere at the heart of the city,”_ she lifted her eyes with thinned lips. _“but, according to my readings, there aren't any life force that suggests anyone is living there.”_

 _“So, we might be dealing with some ghosts,”_ Hunk commented almost idly, but Lance was able to hear the slight nervousness underlying his tone. _“Alien ghosts.”_

 _“Or someone decided it'll be funny to call for help in an abandoned city and left,”_ the scowl was obviously _there_ on Keith's face. _“Like a bunch of kids at a 7-Eleven store.”_

“That was specific, even for you, Keith.” Lance commented cheekily, grinning. “But yeah, a hit and run kind of situation after some rascals stole a whole jar of candy.”

 _“Now,_ you're _being specific.”_ Pidge said. _“Shiro? Any ideas?”_

 _“Keep your guard up,”_ Shiro answered. _“If we're lucky, we'll be able to handle this without facing an ambush and help those people that ask for it. The worst case scenario that could happen is people are used as a bait. Either way, we'll have to be careful and hope we'll be able to go through this smoothly.”_ There's a pause. _“If Allura's right and there's no sign of life there, but, there are bodies, we’ll do whatever we can then.”_

“God,” Lance breathed, feeling his stomach twist when his imagination ran away from him, presenting him with images he rather not face.

 _“Roger that,”_ Keith replied for all of them as they began to fly towards a forest of green trees, a distance away from the sea.

Despite the land being rough and loose sand, the vegetation that grew there was impressive enough that Lance wasn't able to see the ground from where he's on top of the trees, and it took him some ways to squeeze through the dense leaves before all of them landed on the surface.

As he walked out of the mouth of his lion, he had his bayard held in his hand, briefly noticing the way Blue stood on her hunches before the particle barrier appeared around her, and he saw his friends’ lions were doing the same thing as well.

There were stairs embedded in the ground that led down to a large door, the pavement and the walls made of old rock as one corner of the door was already destroyed, leaving a gaping hole that was probably big enough for for both Hunk and Lance to squeeze in at the same time.

What surprised Lance was that, despite the door being half intact, there was little debris littering on the floor compared to what the door suggested by its appearance, as if someone actually made the initiative to remove some of the larger rocks to the side to allow themselves to come in and go as they please without being blocked.

It made the hairs on his nape stand up.

“I don't like this,” Hunk muttered under his breath, flexing his grip onto his bayard, eyeing the door uneasily. “This place is giving me the bad vibes. You know how you know you're not supposed to be going to a haunted house or a cemetery in the middle of Halloween Night? Yeah, this is the same feeling I'm getting, and it's _not_ good.”

Shiro eyed the tall and thin trunks in front of him, as if searching intently for anyone who would suddenly jump out and attack them while they were unaware. “This door is one of the three main doors that would lead us into the city,” Pidge said as she tapped through information Allura gave them. “But, this one is the only one standing while the other two were destroyed and sealed.” Then, she frowned. “That's funny.”

“Funny ‘ha-ha’ or funny ‘what the fuck’ because honestly, Pidge?” Lance began descending down the steps slowly, body tensed with wariness. “This place is definitely funny ‘what the fuck’.”

“Yeah,” Keith agreed wryly as he peered over her shoulder. “Because it says here _this_ door was knocked down and sealed with the rest of the others too. But the problem is, it looks fine now.”

“As if it wasn't destroyed in the first place.” Shiro deduced as he joined them.

Lance froze, swivelling around to glare at them. “You could've told me _before_ I step foot on this thing.”

“We were going to walk in, anyway.” Keith shot back.

Hunk made an unhappy noise as he looked at the small screen on his wrist as well. “I can't believe the doors are arranged trigonometrically.”

Wincing, Lance took a step back up. “Illuminati?”

Hunk nodded solemnly. “Illuminati.”

“Come on,” Shiro pulled away and began walking down the stairs, passing Lance that the Blue Paladin stared at him in disbelief. “We should get this over with when there's still light, seeing that this place has only nine hours of daylight out of thirty hours a day.”

As the rest trudged down as well, Lance shook his head, walking in front of Hunk as his teammate brought up the rear. “If a booby trap decided to happen, I'm calling it.”

“Don't jinx it, Lance.” Hunk warned, eyes flitting over the low ceiling as they entered a narrow hallway.

Thankfully, the lights their suits provided was enough to at least let them see where they were putting their feet the moment they were swallowed into the darkness, the sound of their footsteps bouncing off the walls of the tight space that Lance used that to calm himself down, his fingers twitching to hold onto his blaster, since the only thing he could see at the moment was the back of Keith's head.

The walkway began to slope down as time passed, where they were required to walk down more stairs that Lance began to wonder how people were able to _breathe_ in this limited amount of space, given the fact that they probably had to carry large amounts of bags or anything similar down to the city. He wasn't claustrophobic, but to think of packed bodies and shared air for long periods of time did made him a bit queasy.

“We're here.”

The sudden vastness of the clearing made him inhale a quiet breath to get himself used to his bearings, before his eyes roamed over the place.

The road they stood branched out into several different directions below them, where numerous stack of buildings clustered around each road that Lance was briefly reminded of how ants would do the same thing back at home if some of his juice would drip to the ground. The place was the shape of a very large bowl, with transparent glass were used as ceilings that allowed sunlight to stream in, shining onto everything below that Lance knew how it used to be a beautiful city.

However, those little roads pointedly avoided a cylinder tower at the centre of the clearing, perched on top of a hill with a statue of a forgotten god stood watch at the front as its clawed hand raised above its head, a cowl covering its face while its robe draped to the ground and pooled under its feet. The height of it was even taller than the Black Lion, almost reaching past the tower itself.

Lance took a step back, taken aback when he noticed how the statue was actually gleaming _silver_ rather than made from rocks.

“That's actually,” he began, blinking once. “Creepy.”

“No kidding.” Hunk mumbled, his eyes never parting from the shadowed part of the cowl as they began to move again. “I feel like the statue’s watching me despite all that mysterious get up."

“The distress signal was from there,” Shiro said, already making his way towards the tower. “We should get going and see if there's anyone up there who needs our help.”

Keith frowned at the statue. “It's weird seeing this thing here, it's almost as if it's new compared to everything else around it.”

“Like someone else decided to move in after the original villagers left,” Pidge agreed. “While adding in their own personal touch.”

"Or the villagers were chased out of their own homes."

As they got nearer towards it, Lance was surprised to see that the statue was covered with markings; swirls and strokes of handmade writings travelled across its robe until it reached its hand. Some were so small that he would have to walk nearer towards it to have a look, while some were big enough to be seen from afar.

“Y’know,” Lance drawled. “Maybe Pidge was right about the whole cult thing.”

Once they were at the door, Shiro found it was locked when he tried to pull it open with the brass ring, and activated his right hand to melt through the metal that pieces of them dropped to the ground. With a single push, the door easily slid open.

Only to find there was nothing inside.

No stairs, no furniture; merely a smooth marble-like floor with more writings scattered across the walls.

But this time, the markings on the lowest parts of the tower were the only ones glowing dimly with silver.

Shiro sucked in a sharp breath. “What-”

He didn't manage to finish his sentence when suddenly, a single yellow beam barely missed his foot.

“Okay,” Hunk began flatly as Shiro jerked back with a muted curse. “That wasn't me.”

When all of them snapped their heads towards the high and dark ceiling, there was nothing there too.

The deathly silence was suffocating.

Lance materialised his blaster, aiming the nozzle up cautiously. “Guys,” he said lowly, hearing the way his teammates mimicked his action. “I think this is the time we start backing away.”

The moment he finished talking, a rain of those yellow beams pelted towards them.

Blindly, Lance and Hunk began firing back while the others ducked down from the fire.

As abruptly as it came, it wasn't until the blasting from the other party stopped that they did the same thing.

There was a long stretch of silence, where Shiro, Keith, and Pidge slowly straightened themselves up as both Lance and Hunk remained in their tight position, never taking their eyes off the ceiling that Lance didn't even notice he was gritting his teeth until he worked his jaw.

The bloodcurdling screech was the only warning they had before something black came swooping down at them with alarming velocity.

“Run!” Shiro shouted.

Heart jumping to his throat, Lance gave a couple of shots before he followed his leader’s orders, scrambling after his teammates as all of them tried to avoid getting hit from more yellow beams that the being was aiming at them from its hand, tattered robe trailing behind it as a cowl only hid its eyes, sharp teeth dripping with black concoction while its grey and leathery lips were pulled back into a snarl.

 _“_ What is _that?”_ Hunk demanded hysterically, where he tried to shoot the thing while running at the same time. _“What is that?”_

 _“Paladins!”_ Allura suddenly called out through the coms, static filling in her voice. _“Paladins, can you hear me?”_

“Allura,” Keith gritted out through his teeth, and Lance was able to see the way he used the butt of his sword to deflect one of the beams back at the creature. “There's something down here attacking us. We don't know what it is, but it's obvious it knows us.”

_“What? What's-?”_

“Look out!” Shiro roared.

Lance glanced back, and saw the way the creature's chest began to unfurl slowly, flecking dead skin peeling off layer by layer before a bright yellow light began to fill in the gaping hole in its sternum, almost to the point of gold, and the creature challenged them with another scream that was louder than before.

Pidge stumbled at the sight. “Jesus f-”

The large light that came out of the creature hit the spot where they all once were, and it began dragging the beam all around as the creature tried to hit them with it. It let out another shrill scream that pierced through his eardrums, and Lance was scrambling out of its line of sight as he began making his way towards one of the empty housing areas to hide.

 _“Allura,”_ Shiro talked past his running through the coms. _“This is the creature. Is there any way you recognise it?”_

Lance knew Shiro switched on his camera to allow her to see, and she immediately fell silent.

“Allura?” Lance began, scrambling to run down the stairs before he slipped through one of the open windows, dropping to the dusty ground of the empty house before he pressed his back against the wall, his breath coming out in pants. “Allura, this is seriously _not_ the time to give us the silent treatment. This _thing_ -”

 _“Is dangerous.”_ She cut him off bluntly. _“I've heard stories of it, and as much I like to tell all of you about it at the moment, I need you to leave that place_ now. _”_

 _“At least tell us what's it called,”_ Pidge whispered harshly, no doubt hiding like he was. _“And how to defeat it. Because it's clearly been established that this thing shoots sun rays from its chest despite being a freaking ghost.”_

 _“Not sun rays,”_ Coran piped out. _“But, pure power. From what I've heard, you're either disintegrated or you're frozen in time once you've been hit by them.”_

 _“Not helping.”_ Hunk grunted, and Lance heard his canon being used from a distance.

 _“Can we defeat it?”_ Keith asked, voice tight.

_“You can, but it'll only come back to life before you can do anything else.”_

_“How long?”_ Shiro questioned. _“If it gives us enough time to get out of here, then we'll do it.”_

_“I'm not sure. But, it's been done before.”_

“Great.” Lance deadpanned.

_“If it's enough to let the person before this escape, then it's enough for us. Lance, Hunk, I need you two to create a distraction. The rest of us are going to attack it while it's busy with you, and then, we try to get out of here as soon as we can the moment it goes down.”_

“Another distraction, huh?” Lance materialised his bayard again, holding onto the blaster as he peeked over the window, only to see the creature lurking near the statue as it tried to look for all of them. “Yeah, we can do that.”

 _“Yeah, okay, sure.”_ Hunk replied, words coming out in a rush. _“Distraction. Got it.”_

 _“We better hurry,”_ Keith said in a low voice _. “Because that thing is rounding the place like a hound dog. Sooner or later, it's going to find us, and we can't stay here forever.”_

 _“Be careful.”_ Allura warned them.

 _“On my count,”_ Shiro muttered. _“One.”_

_“Two.”_

_“Three!”_

Lance pressed the trigger, and several blasts of blue light shot the creature in the chest, causing it to scream again as it was tossed into the statue with a crash.

But, it quickly got up, light already glowing in his chest again.

“Well, damn.”

Lance vaulted through the same window to avoid the stream of light destroying the house behind him, where he quickly activated his jets to narrowly miss the upcoming beam and the collapsing house.

There was another set of brighter yellow blasts coming from Hunk somewhere below, and when the creature turned around to screech at Hunk, Lance shot it in the middle of its back.

“Guys!” Lance shouted as his shots were becoming more consistent. “Anytime now!”

Right on cue, a green sling wrapped itself around the creature's neck, and Pidge pulled down with all her might that it came crashing down to where both Shiro and Keith were already waiting.

But, as quick as lightning, it aimed its palm towards Hunk.

Lance felt his eyes widen. “Hunk!”

As if time itself was slowed down, all of them could only watch the way three quick yellow beams hurtling towards Hunk, and the Yellow Paladin was snapped out of his frozen spot the last minute as he tried to fly his way out of there, his splutter of shocked words could be heard from where Lance stood a distance away, unable to do anything as his limbs refused to cooperate with him to help his friend.

Too late, Hunk was tossed to the side with bright yellow blasts, a scream tearing out of his throat that Lance flinched violently from the loud impact, seeing Hunk falling over the hill of stairs with wide brown eyes and ashened face.

“No.”

Distantly, he heard the loud snarls of the creature as Shiro held it down, and Lance frantically activated his jets to fly his way towards where Hunk had fallen, the slash of Keith's sword was accompanied by gurgled chokes sounded very far away as Lance could only hear his own blood pounding in his ears, his heart threatening to burst out of his own chest while the only thing he could think of was his friend falling over the ledge.

_“Hunk.”_

Down there, right at the end of the stairs, was Hunk’s paladin armour.

But, there was no body.

Swallowing the bile down his throat, Lance dived down towards it, only to screech into a halt when he saw _something_ moving inside Hunk's body suit.

_What?_

Thinking it was more of that creature's doing, he let fury decide his actions and cloud most of his senses as he called for his bayard, pointing his blaster towards it with gritted teeth as he waited for it to come out.

“Where's Hunk?” he whispered hoarsely, gripping his blaster with enough force to feel the ache in his fingers. “Come out, whatever the fuck you are, and tell me where's _Hunk?_ ”

He counted to five to wait, and was about to push the trigger when he almost staggered back at what popped out of the black material of Hunk's bodysuit.

_“Hunk?”_

Staring at him familiar eyes, blown and terrified, half of his body still inside his suit, was Hunk.

Only, he was achingly _small._

And absolutely, utterly, _young._

_“Lance?”_

Lance swallowed, still holding onto his blaster as he heard Shiro calling for him. _“Lance,”_ his voice turned firmer now, trying to get through his shocked haze. _“What happened? Where's Hunk?”_

Shaking his head, Lance wanted to laugh at the situation, thinking this was all a very sick joke and he wanted to go back to the castle now more than ever. His body was filled with utter disbelief, latching onto his veins that it was becoming really difficult to move now that he had seen things somewhat similar to the ones he thought he promised not to freak out over. Being in his current position was too outraged to the point that his mind was tempted to shut down completely.

But, some sort of twisted humour must had managed to morph into an expression when he was thinking, because Hunk's baby face was beginning to crumple.

“Oh,” Lance breathed quietly, noticing his mistake as he quickly gotten rid of his blaster, rising his hands up to his shoulders to show his empty hands, as if that would help. “Oh, no. Please, Hunk-”

Tears were trailing down Hunk's plump cheeks, a keen hitching past his pink lips that Lance could particularly _hear_ the way his other teammates snapped to attention.

 _“Lance,”_ Pidge started, wary and skeptical, as if she wasn’t sure she was hearing things right. _“What is that?”_

He cleared his throat. “Hunk.”

_“He's alive? What happened to him? And why does he sound like that?”_

The sobs were becoming louder now, and Lance felt his chest clench at the sight of Hunk using his pudgy hands to rub them across his nose and eyes, smearing fluid all over his face that he looked like an absolute mess.

“He,” he paused, unsure how to word this properly. “ _changed.”_

 _“What happened?”_ Keith repeated the words with an edge in his voice.

Lance threw his hands up in frustration. “I don't _know_. Look-”

The sudden gesture only made Hunk flinch, and he cried harder that Lance quickly dropped down his arms. “It's alright, Hunk,” he called out softly, slowly kneeling to the ground with a hand stretched towards him, offering the toddler a gentle smile. “I'm sorry I startled you. And I'm not gonna hurt you because we’re pals, okay? We look out for each other.” With a pang, he was reminded of the days when he was trying calm down his temperamental younger cousins, but pushed the thought away to focus on the current problem.

But his outstretched hand only caused Hunk to scramble back, shaking his head furiously as he continued to rub his eyes, dragging the suit with him everytime he moved.

It occurred to Lance that Hunk didn't remember him anymore, explaining why he was looking at him without recognition, refusing to even meet his eyes as he only continued to rub his tears away.

He was surprised, however, the others didn't comment anything.

“Guys,” he muttered, keeping an eye on Hunk as he sniffled. “I'll need to take off my helmet so that Hunk would recognise me, don't come here until I say so, or you'll scare him off.”

 _“We need to know what's happening too, Lance.”_ Shiro reminded him, his tone leaning towards disapproval.

“I know, I know, but just for a moment. Make sure the dementor-like thing stays dead. Unless it’s suddenly alive again, then you'll have to holler.”

Then, he took a breath, and began to take off his helmet. Hunk watched him fearfully, but there was no denying the curiosity in his eyes when he merely watched Lance set it aside. Facing Hunk again, he met his wet look with a beam.

At least, he stopped crying, despite the tear streaked cheeks.

“Hey there, buddy.” Lance smirked. “Do you know who I am?”

It took a while for Hunk to answer, but as he shook his head, Lance pushed down the disappointment deep down in himself to not let it be seen, and instead shrugged nonchalantly, trying to appear unaffected. “That's cool, but you gotta know something about us though.” He feigned looking around, as if trying to find anyone that would dare eavesdrop on their conversation. And then, he gave Hunk a mischievous look. “We're _best_ friends.”

He didn't reply as he only stared at him unsurely, before a sudden hiccup burst out that Lance grinned.

God. He always knew Hunk had the ability to do cute things, but _this._

At the moment, he was the walking definition of _innocence_ that it hurt Lance to his core.

“That's right,” Lance nodded earnestly. “Hunk and Lance, best friends since forever, and we've never been separated from anything since then.”

Hunk blinked. “Lance?”

He was glad that Hunk was slowly beginning to talk, and let out a small breathless chuckle. “That's right. You and me, Hunk and Lance.” Resting his hands onto his lap, Lance stayed still, hoping that Hunk would be able to come to him when he would be ready. “And, we have other friends too. They're waiting for us up there.”

Hunk blinked towards the number of stairs, and Lance realised that it was the same stairs that Hunk dropped from when he was shot by the creature. Panic began to bloom as he let his eyes fleet over Hunk's small form, looking for any injuries that needed to be treated immediately. Lance was tempted to check him himself, but seeing that Hunk was still afraid of him, he couldn't do that. He didn't want to scare him more with unwelcoming touches. “Hunk,” the toddler pulled his attention towards Lance again. “Did you fall?”

Frowning, Hunk shook his head. “No. I'm okay.”

“Are you sure? You don't feel hurt?”

“I'm not hurt,” he stopped himself, as if catching himself talking too much to someone that was still considered a stranger to him, before he looked away. “I just wanna go away from here.”

Lance felt another stab in his chest, but this time, it was filled more with guilt.

_Don't we all?_

There's a possibility that Hunk changed _after_ he fell, where he wouldn't remember the pain after he was reverted several years back into the past, long before the both of them even met each other. It was only a relief that Hunk didn't disintegrated like Coran had initially mentioned, making things much more easier that Lance was at least able to do something about it.

He noticed the way Hunk let out a shiver, and softened his internal worry. “Are you cold?” Reluctantly, Hunk nodded, and Lance gave him the same reassuring smile. “There's some warm clothes in the flying castle if you like, and you even have your own fluffy slippers if you want to wear them.”

Hunk’s mouth dropped into an astonished ‘o’, and Lance resisted the urge to pinch those cheeks. “There's a flying castle?”

“Yep,” Lance nodded. “It's up in space now. Did you know that we came here with flying robot lions? In fact, they're waiting for us right now.”

His eyes seemed to brighten at that. “There are robots?”

Lance winked. “You betcha, kiddo.”

_“Lance.”_

“Excuse me, Hunk. Looks like someone's calling me,” he heaved out a dramatic sigh, causing Hunk to smile almost shyly, averting his eyes for a moment. Lance slipped on his helmet. “Yeah?”

 _“It's healing itself,”_ Shiro told him. _“If Hunk's okay, bring him up now. I'm not sure how long we have to get out of here in time.”_

“Right,” he caught Hunk's look, and gave an exaggeration of an eyeroll that Hunk let out a small giggle, and Lance himself grinned widely at a victory like that. “We'll be right up.” Then, he fully faced Hunk, hoping that the toddler was able to trust him. “Hunk? How about we go and get some warm clothes for you to bundle up, huh? And then, we can see some robot lions I've mentioned about. Is that okay?”

Hunk was beginning to look worried again, fidgeting in his spot that Lance patiently waited for him to make a decision; even if the horror of a creature was putting itself back together like a stack of blocks after Keith slit it’s throat open.

It took them a moment, but when Hunk timidly nodded from where he was looking at his fiddling hands, Lance let out a small sigh of relief. He let a smile take over his features. “I'm going to come near you now, alright? And then I'm gonna carry you up, if that's okay too?”

When he was given permission with another nod, Lance stood up and began walking towards him, before crouching down to his level again. “Come on, big guy,” he murmured, reaching out to brush away those strands of hair from his forehead. “Let's get you out of here.”

Hunk let Lance slid his hands under his armpits, lifting him up along with his too large bodysuit to make him more decent until he would get new clothes. “Pidge,” Lance said into his mic as he braced a hand onto Hunk's back, where he hid his face into Lance's neck. “I need you to help me carry up Hunk's armour. Now would be good.”

There was a shocked pause. _“I need to what?”_

“Because Keith and Shiro’s going to kick that thing's a- uh,” he glanced down to Hunk. “ _quiznak_ if it's suddenly alive again.”

 _“What are_ you _doing?”_ Keith demanded.

Lance snorted, glancing up when he heard the sound of jets becoming louder, only to see Pidge coming towards their way. He rubbed Hunk's back up and down in a soothing manner when he felt those small hands clutching onto his shoulders tightly, clearly afraid. “Relax, Keith. I have Hunk with me.”

 _“Is he alright?”_ Allura's voice managed to be heard despite the slight interference on the line.

“He's fine.” Lance shot up both of his eyebrows pointedly when Pidge froze in front of him, staring at the bundle in his arms with wide eyes. “Come on, Pidge, we don't have all day.”

She snapped her eyes towards him. “Is that-?”

“Yep.”

It looked as if she was forcing herself to move from her frozen spot, picking up Hunk's paladin armour. “Well, damn.”

“Delicate ears, dude.” Lance sniffed, hovering a hand over Hunk's ear as the toddler hid his face more now that someone else was there with them. “Seriously, do you ever learn?”

She scoffed. “Hypocrite.”

“I don't swear in front of the little guys.”

“Sure you do, you just don't wanna admit it.”

 _“Lance,”_ Shiro said. _“Hurry.”_

“We’re coming, we're coming,” both he and Pidge flew up, and Hunk’s death grip on him was stronger now more than ever. “Hey,” Lance said softly. “It's alright, I got you.”

The moment they landed on solid ground again, Lance made sure Hunk was facing anywhere but at the grotesque thing mending itself together in front of their eyes. He grimaced, watching the way the cuts Keith made on its flesh bubbling and squelching with disgusting noises to stitch itself up, its onyx blood dried up on the floor that the smell of rat piss filled in his nostrils. Lance took a few steps back, where the stench wasn't as strong there. “Gross.”

When he looked up, both Shiro and Keith had similar expressions Pidge had a moment ago, staring at the back of Hunk's head that the toddler was beginning to squirm in his arms, and Lance ran his hand down his back again.

“Fascinating, I know,” Lance began, nodding once. “But, there's this thing we have to think of first, so let's get going, shall we?”

 _“The creature wouldn't be able to come out of the city,”_ Allura’s voice alerted them. _“It's bounded to the statue. I suggest leaving now, where you won't be suffering from its attacks again once it's healed.”_

Shiro nodded. “Alright, let's go.”

As they began flying towards the entrance, Shiro shot him a questioning look, to which he answered with a shrug.

Then, Lance craned his neck to look down at Hunk again, using his hand to cover Hunk's head. “Can you close your eyes for me, Hunk?” He asked quietly, eyeing the upcoming door. “It's going to be dark soon, and I don't want you to get scared.”

There was a jerking nod, and Lance stepped into the tight corridors once again.


End file.
